Ready-made thematic units to teach in January

Start the year all planned and ready to go with our ready-made thematic units for January.

What to teach in January

Start the year all organised with super engaging lessons that your children love, based in the best-practice educational philosophy of learning through play.

All our thematic units are based on hands-on activities which makes them super fun and engaging for your children, and routed in best-practice teaching methods so the learning sticks.

Every unit is all planned for you, and comes with accompanying printables to make your teaching even easier, so you can start the year all organised.

Think of me as your teaching fairy godmother and take your pick from our grab-and-go teaching solutions this winter.

Here’s our collection of grab-and-go thematic units to teach in January.

New Year thematic unit

Start the year off well with our New Year activities for children.

In this New Year Unit your children can:

:: learn about New Year celebrations and enjoy new year fizz sensory play

:: make a homemade calendar

:: complete their unique What A Year! journal page

:: make noise makers and fireworks

:: set New Year’s resolution goals

:: make a wishing wand or make a poster of their Word of the Year. 

Play Academy members can download this New Year unit with all the accompanying printables here.

Not a Play Academy member yet? Find out more and pick your first unit here.

Ice & Snow thematic unit

From the Play Academy’s Math & Science curriculum pathway, your children can learn about the Arctic and Antarctic in our Ice & Snow thematic unit.

In this Ice & Snow Unit your children can:

:: learn about snow

:: make puffy paint, salt or tortilla snowflakes

:: learn about the Arctic and Antarctic and make a mini book

:: play with a penguin small world

:: play penguin letter games

Play Academy members can download this Ice & Snow unit with all the accompanying printables here.

Not a Play Academy member yet? Find out more and pick your first unit here.

100 Days of School thematic unit

Round about now it will be your 100th day of school (depending on exactly when you started back in the summer/fall). Your children deserve a celebration for being 100 days cleverer! This unit also lets them play around with and truly understand the concept of one hundred.

In this unit, using active games, art, journalling, conversation, math and maps your children can:

:: find out what they can so in 100 seconds

:: explore 100s math activities

:: see if they can paint 100 colours

:: journal using our 100 writing prompts

:: have fun with 100 snacks

:: explore and talk about what is 100 miles away

Play Academy members can download this 100 Days of School unit with all the accompanying printables here.

Not a Play Academy member yet? Find out more and pick your first unit here.

Fairies thematic unit

One of our magic gems, and part of our Language and Storytelling curriculum pathway, our Fairies unit is a magical mix of art, imagination, making, storytelling, conversation and play.

In our Fairies Unit your children can:

:: make their own fairy

:: interview their fairy and get to know them better

:: make a house for their fairy to live in

:: create a fairy land

:: talk about magic and what people believe about it

:: make a wand or wishing tree

Play Academy members can download this Fairies unit with all the accompanying printables here.

Not a Play Academy member yet? Find out more and pick your first unit here.

Gingerbread thematic unit

For a cosy winter themed unit based, use our Gingerbread Unit. These lessons plans work perfectly alongside the traditional tale of The Gingerbread Man.

In this Unit your children can:

:: bake and taste gingerbread cookies

:: explore measuring with gingerbread

:: make ‘first bite’ surveys and graphs

:: take part in the build-a-bridge STEM challenge

::make 3D gingerbread houses or gingerbread men

Play Academy members can download this Gingerbread unit with all the accompanying printables here.

Not a Play Academy member yet? Find out more and pick your first unit here.

Chinese New Year thematic unit

The lunar Chinese New Year varies its date each year and so might be taught in January or February.

In this Chinese New Year Unit your children can:

:: learn about Chinese New Year

:: make a dragon

:: make lanterns

:: play lucky 8s, count to ten in Chinese and play red envelope math games

:: explore sensory painting

:: try a mandarin sensory taste test

Play Academy members can download this Chinese New Year unit with all the accompanying printables here.

Not a Play Academy member yet? Find out more and pick your first unit here.

Choose from over 50 ready-made thematic units

The Play Academy gives you over 50 grab-and-go thematic units which integrate perfectly with your curriculum. They’re carefully planned to introduce each topic and give children a range of hands-on lesson plans that really engage them in learning and developing cross-curricular skills and ideas.

Each unit is clearly laid out, showing you how to introduce and lead each lesson, so you can pick up your chosen unit and be ready to teach.

You can use individual units and also group units together to build a year-round pathway of cross-curricular leaning based around extended themes including Festivals, Science and Math, Art, and Nature.

Your teaching is about to get a whole lot better and easier!

Take a tour of the Play Academy and choose your first thematic unit here.